Steaua – Trencin Match Preview

Nothing is impossible in football and Trencin will try to prove that this evening in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League second round matchup against Steaua Bucharest.

“Nothing is impossible, this is football. We lost 2-0 at home but we know we have quality players. We can score two or three goals and we have to be careful on the defensive end. It’s not impossible. We are all confident. If we hadn’t have hope, we wouldn’t have come here,” Trencin midfielder Gino van Kessel told the media on Tuesday warning the Romanians about the upcoming European game.

“We fancy our chances,” Trencin coach Martin Sevela added in his attempt to instill even more confidence in his players.

However, the mission at hand to overturn the score and eliminate Steaua won’t be easy at all. The Romanian champs look far more ready to compete than a week ago. Last weekend, they hammered Pandurii 3-0 showing glimpses of great offensive display. This is what Trencin might also witness on Wednesday on National Arena in Bucharest. The Romanians know they still have 90+ minutes left before they can think about the third round clash against Serbian side Partizan Belgrade.

“It’s a very difficult match, a very important one. Thinking about the next round would be our biggest mistake. We had problems in the first leg and will try to make no mistakes. We have a small advantage but we have to be careful,”assistant coach Massimo Pedrazzini explained.

All players are healthy and changes will be made on both sides. Steaua will be without international defender Gabriel Tamas who was kicked out of the team last weekend for missing a training session. Also Algerian Aymen Tahar will most likely replace Nicandro Breeveld in the starting 11. Furthermore, the Slovakians should expect to see more of Jugurtha Hamroun, the striker who scored a goal in the first leg.

On the other side, Trencin coach admitted he will make several changes in order to disrupt the Romanian side. “We will make changes for sure and even though we lost in the first leg, we won’t make any significant changes,” Sevela said.

The game will be played on an empty National Arena. UEFA penalized Steaua last year for not handling the fights in the stands properly during the Dinamo Kiev – Steaua Europa League clash.

Advantage Trencin? Could be. “We are used to play with few spectators in the stands. We will see if we have an advantage here,” goalie Igor Semrinec told the press on Tuesday.

But will it be enough for Trencin to upset the Romanian champs?

Tip In

Most probably not. Expect Steaua to win and to score goals in the process. As shown in the first leg, Trencin can’t play the former European Cup winners head-to-head for 90 minutesso they will probably suffer yet another disappointing defeat.